A visit with the Amish

Last Friday, Brent and Diane, Mich, Sam and I took a trip to Lancaster county to visit with the Amish.
I find their lifestyle quite fascinating, so when Diane brought up the idea I was more than thrilled to check them out. The Amish are a religious sect originating from the Mennonites, who arose directly out of the reformation struggles of the sixteenth century.

The first thing that I saw that set them apart is their transport -  the buggy. Its a horse drawn carriage. They don't use cars.
"Englisher", "Yankee" or "High People" are the names given by the Amish for anyone who is not Amish.

They are known as the plain people because they wear plain colored clothing, they live in scattered farmland locations across America. They live within highly personalized relationships, avoiding more than casual contact with strangers who might attempt to educate them to the ways of the outside world. While the Amish avoid most of the conveniences of the 21st Century, something that most outsiders have difficulty understanding, they are happy in their way of life.

I first  heard about them  when there was a shooting at one of their schools and it was all over the news. Oprah on one of her cross country tours stopped by one of the Amish homes. They don't use electricity or telephones.
They are not too thrilled with people visiting their quiet countryside farms. In fact, they avoid anything more than casual contact with strangers and any possible influence from the outside world of the "Englisher" just as they have for more than three hundred years.

They mind their own business, that made me cautious not to ask questions or stare at them. For religious reasons, most Amish avoid having their picture taken. They will cover their face or turn away from a camera just as you would if a stranger suddenly tried to take your picture. Keep in mind, too, that flash cameras snapped in front of a passing Amish buggy may frighten the horse and endanger the buggy’s passengers.

We stopped over for lunch at one of their well known restaurants and the food was mm mm good!
They kept bringing dishes until we said stop. The order of service in the restaurant was that every one ate together at one long table. If you came in and found some people already seated you would join them and eat like one big family, nice!

Big D - 3 months down

It's been 3 months since I nestled in the warmth of Dallas and I'm loving it.

Texans have got this southern hospitality thing going on; they are free and easy, courteous, warm and involving -the talkative library guy not withstanding.
People greet, nod and smile as they cross paths.
Drivers will slow down or stop just so I can cross the road.
The post man calls me by name and asks about Uganda, while I'm still speechless, he asks about my husband and how he hasn't seen my little boy in a while.
One can have a genuine conversation over here and people remember, in some cases they will call just to find out how you are doing.

If only this was in the file of my first American experiences.

Philadelphia gave me the creeps in every which way, I'm still not over it.
At some point I thought I was the problem.
That I was weird for wanting to go beyond the surface in my relationships.
That shaking hands and giving hugs was so not right.
That speaking when I hadn't been spoken to was just crazy.
That allowing Mich to run around unsupervised, (by that I mean not watching his every move), could land me in the hands of the law.
Whatever went down on the East Coast? or is it Philly?


"Philadelphia" certainly wasn't any where near "the city of brotherly love"; that name was misappropriated.
I will not even start sighting examples, they are way too many. We wouldn't like to spend the entire day reading one post now would we?.

I have dragged the city through the mad way too long.
But I don't apologise.

Sure, it had it's high lights, can't think of any right now though.

Okay. I loved it for its rich history, I learned about America's childhood and run up the Rocky stairs.

The Liberty bell, -"Let freedom ring".

Congress hall, where the declaration of independence doc was signed.


Rocky Balboa statue, if you haven't watched Rocky I, II, and III, look out for it. Does the name Sylvester Stallone ring a bell?

There was lots to see and do.

Armish life, interesting religious sect in Lancester county.

Plus, it's a walkable city.
I didn't get why people swore by the Philly cheese stake though, I got to eat one, maybe it was the African in me that shone through.

Growing on me?

On Mich’s birthday we met some neighbors as he played in the compound, he told anyone willing to listen – “It’s my birthday today”
“Oh, my! Happy Birthday! How old are you? What are going to do? What did your parents get you? Are you going out to dinner?”
“I’m five years old”, is all he’d say, didn't bother to answer the other questions, were they too many? Did they fly over his head?, I don’t know.

I got talking with this lady who was child sitting a friend’s 8 year old daughter. This girl (I forget her name) was apparently the best golf player of her age in the area, I thought wow! Golf at 8?!, back in the day Simon and I would run through the golf course shielding our heads with our bags lest a golf ball found a good landing spot on top of us.
Then the lady went on to ask me what games Mich plays, “err …anything fun, whatever” I shrugged my shoulders, I mean he is still a kid right?.
Then she says, “this would be the perfect time for him start golf training, he is the right age. My son started when he was 3”, and I’m smiling and saying wow! (I personally think golf is boring).
She says “but if he likes soccer he can start that now too, this is the best time”
Enough with the pressure, where I come from kids just play everything and anything, - tie banana fibers together make a ball and play, knot strips of grass together and skip, ati professional training at 3 or 4 years of age? What’s that?
Can a little person read and ace his exams? That is all that counts, you don’t waste time and money on games.

Later her husband joined us and Mich did his thing, “It’s my birthday”
The cycle begun again, “how old are you?” “what game do you play”, at this point I was thinking oh no! not again.
But you know, I'm thinking it would be nice to get him into something fun, playing a musical instrument maybe, like the piano or guitar. Oh my goodness! then I would end up being a real ‘soccer mom’ running from this rehearsal to the next.
Is this American lifestyle starting to grow on me?

You know what this reminds me of? - the time I first came into America.
I was advised to pack as little as possible with the notion that I would get everything I needed here.
With the excitement of travel and the knowledge that I had a toddler I was careful to heed the advice.
America after all is the land of our dreams, it has everything in abundance. The latest fashions, the most sophisticated electronic gadgets (from Japan), it’s the home to most celebrities, in fact the streets are so clean one doesn't have to wash clothes or bathe often :-).
They have amazing food, cuisines from around the world are fairly represented in the “American kitchen”. I just needed a few clothes that would tide me over the first few months and I was half right.
I was so wrong about the food, for the first weeks I thought my son and I were slowly going to die of hunger. Not that we were broke and couldn't buy any thing,- there was plenty of food, all kinds of food as a matter of fact but nothing familiar. The bakery aisle in the super market was filled with all tribes of bread but non that caught my fancy. The milk was a whole other issue - 1 percent, 2 percent, ¾ percent, whole milk, half milk, one was certainly spoilt for choice, but that would only be true if I was familiar with the choices.
Where I come from, there is milk period.
You go to the market and you get diary milk, or nido for those of you.
I haven’t even mentioned how I couldn't find blue band. I found carrots, tomatoes, green paper and onions of all colors but no matooke (plantains) or sweet potatoes, there was no millet flour or curry powder, there was no dodo, ebo, buga or nakati but they had collard greens and broccoli - greens I had never tasted. I thought, you know what? This is the end of me.
Quite apart from that, I was intimidated by the huge super markets and felt like someone stepping off a spinning wheel when I walked out the door. I had to be quick because I had a toddler to feed and a husband who was busy getting accustomed to his school schedule. Not to mention the times I wanted the house to cave in on me because I was afraid to venture outside – this in the crazy summer when it was too hot to stay outdoors or indoors for that matter. We lacked air conditioning you see. Philadelphia summer gave hot a whole new meaning.

I promised to bring all the foods I wanted from home when I had a chance. My shopping consisted of bare necessities (my version) for a Ugandan living away from home..
Banana chips, Simsim balls (sesame seed), -oh!nothing tastes as good as our local simsim or g-nuts. Millet flour for porridge and kalo (millet bread), cassava flour for kabalagala (banana pancakes).
By the way, did you know some people here have no idea what passion fruits are , never seen, never heard of - “mu life eno!” as one of my friends likes to say.
Unfortunately I couldn't carry nsenene (grass hoppers), deep fried tilapia – Ggaba style, dripping, sizzling pork “ne bigenderako” from Zanzi , luwombo, katogo... that is not to say the thought never crossed my mind.
But what am I saying?
This second time here, I don’t miss home food that much (self denial?), I’m more accustomed to what is available – Zucchini, Artichokes, kumquat, that kind of thing.
I never imagined I would get to this point, is the American lifestyle growing on me or what?

4th of July

Big day for Uncle Sam, 'his' birthday you know.
Bigger day for "Phillians" - this is the birth place. You can imagine the excitement that was buzzing in the air, fire works starting on the 3rd, cook outs, barbecues, the works.
In the Ongwen house hold things were a little different. We were making sure all the boxes, bags, suitcases and such were packed and ready to go into storage. Sam did a great job of packing, organising and putting things away. As usual Mich was running all over the place, trying to help but sometimes, actually most times, getting in the way. Every time I bent down to pick something or pack a bag he was thinking "wow that is a perfect opportunity for a piggy back ride". I decided to take him to the play ground letting Dad have the space to wrap up in peace.

Later in the evening we thought we would go watch the fire works and also attend the live John Legend concert. We were there only briefly when it started to drizzle, and drizzle it did. After about 45 minutes of trying to shelter under trees and Mich attempting to climb every tree then sulking because Daddy wasn't standing still long enough for him to climb up his shoulder/arm/leg/whatever we decided to leave.
















We got home, put Mich to bed and had a wonderful viewing of the Legend concert and spectacular fire works in the comfort of our sitting room - on TV. I mean it was just like we were attending the function except we were not getting wet in the rain.

The last days

I know that's a heavy title for my posting but it's the truth.
Biblicly these are the last days and as far as our time in Philly is concerned, these are the last days too.

The house is in a mess, boxes everywhere, things upside down, inside out. Sam and I are trying to pack and get things either into boxes, into other peoples houses or out of the house. There is an amazing online shop called Craig's list. We put up some of our stuff for sale and things are going steadily.


















Meanwhile, today was Mich's last day at school, he said we should take pictures so that when he grows up he will remember his teachers.

10 days to go.

Politics

I realised this whole Presidential election thing had gone a bit too far when Mich begun to mention his cartoon heroes;- Spider man, Bat man, Super man, and Super delegates. Uh ... ok!

He made a little present for his dad, when we asked him what it was he said it was a "necklacebracelet". Sam and I think it's a key holder, which ever way it goes, I think it's awesome.

Happy fathers day to all you fathers out there.

25 days to go.

Philly

Now now, it would not be right to have mom see DC and NY and not give her a taste of good ol Philly.

We took a bus tour but it was nothing like the one in DC. Philly come on, style up a little bit remember this is the birth place of U.S.A.
Anyway we were all squashed up, there was hardly any room between the sits and unlike DC where we had an audio recording, we had a tour guide who was really labouring in love. At first we were skeptic but it turned to be a good thing, the guy was funny and even though he had been telling the same story several times that day and who knows how many times through out the summer, he still made it an interesting and learning experience. Come to think of it, he has just begun because we are fresh out of winter and heading into summer. Boy! he has lots of talking to do this summer, the good thing is he enjoys what he does.









Philadelphia City Hall. It's the largest, tallest, and most expensive of all city halls in the United States. The statue at the top is of William Penn, the guy who pretty much founded and planned the lay out of Philly.
Betsy Ross house. Betsy was the lady who sewed the first American flag.

Philadelphia Museum of Art, aka the Rocky steps. Can you see someone at the top of the stairs with hands raised? yup, that's me. Mich is almost invisible but he is standing right next to me.


One thing I wanted to do before I left Philly was to jog up those stairs and do the "Rocky Balboa pose". Aaaah! now I can leave in peace.

Long Wood Gardens

Last Monday we took a trip to Longwood gardens, a very beautiful garden displaying flowers from almost all continents.




I'm thinking I might go back there in a little while to harvest that matooke because mmm it looks yummy.
We went with Brad and Becca (my pastor and his wife) it was fun hanging together.
The beauty of the gardens can't be articulated, one has got to see them for one's self. The gardens were purchased by a man called Pierre S. du Pont in 1906 and he created this magnificent garden that people enjoy today. I hear it was like his summer home and the gardens were in his back yard. I don't know how true that is seeing as ...













it's quite big. Fancy this as a backyard, huh?!


It's got fruits and vegetables, a picnic area, a desert house, a tropical house, fountains. Think about horticulture - it's all here.

It's official

I can officially say school is done. It's over, finished, ca put... well at least for now.

Sam did his final exam yesterday and he closed it off in style, I understand it was the hardest exam in the entire two year program.


We spent some time reviewing our experiences over the past two years. Even though it was exciting to walk out of the final exam, the thought that it's all over carried with it some nostalgic emotions. No more school, friends that have grown dear over the past two years are going to scatter to all corners of the globe. For some it's probably the last time they will see each other.

But on the actual purpose that brought him to Philly, Sam was content to say that he had successfully learned and experienced it fully.

Where as his experience was majorly academic, mine has been spiritual.
Living in Philly/America has been absolutely about getting a "God centred education", I couldn't define it better. Leaving a perfectly good job with the World Bank, transitioning into a full time stay home mom, losing two children, losing my identity, living within a strange culture, being out of touch with friends back home - essentially being striped of everything and in that chaos finding Jesus.

The big lesson has been - my life is not about me, it's all about God and what He wants to do in and through me. It has been a time to adjust priorities and realise that what really matters is me fulfilling God's purpose as opposed to God fulfilling mine. It sounds kind of weird but in surrendering and letting God have His way I find that my desires and needs are met. Many times not as I was expecting but exceedingly abundantly above, I just didn't know it until I took the time to actually look at the details.

Kind of like the potter and the clay, the black smith and the ore.

Spring is still springing.

These are bleeding hearts, I honestly think they look like earrings.